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6 9/ 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 



DISCOXTRSi:, 

DELIVERED BY 

I 

.EV. THOMAS ARMITAGE, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIFTH AVEXUE BAPTIST CHURCH, 

On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. S7, and Repeated by Request December 18, 1862. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



NEW YORK ; \ 

•HTNTKl) AND PUBLISHED 35 Y T. HOLM AN. \ 

18G2. 






THE 



'mi WuMut «il Inintt 



UNITED STATES. 



DISCOVRSE, 



DELIVERED BY 



EEV. THOMAS AKMITAGE, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIFTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH, 

On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, and Repeated bf Repest December 18, 1862. 



NEW YORK : 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY T. HOLMAN. 

1862. 



Cr 



.A 12 



L,. L.. D. 

Rose Hill, Tivoli P. O., Duchess Co., N. Y. 
15^/i July, 1870. 

Judgb; Advccatk, with tln^ rank of Major. I.S45. 

Coi.ONKL N. Y. S. I. 1S46 ; assisned fov " Meritorious Cmiduet," 1S49; 

IJKiGADiiiR-GESEHaL for " Important Service'^ [first dppointment— in N. Y. State — to that rank, 

liitherto elective] 1S51.M. F. S. N. Y. 

Adjutant-Genekal, S. N. Y. 1865. 

Hrevet Major-IJenekal, S. N. Y.. for " Merilorlum Services." 

(fii-st and only frenernl officer receiving; such an honor (the hij^hest) from S. N. Y.,] 

by " Si>ecial Act.^' or" Concurrent Kesolutioji," New York State Legislature^ April, 1S66. 

LAWS OF NEW YORK, Vol. 2.— 89th Session, 1866, Page S142. 
Conrurreiil Ttesi:luliim reijuealing the Governor tu confer upon Briqadier-General J. WATTS 
HE PUYSrER [de remter']lht brevet rank of Major* [General] in the National Guard 
of New York. 
Resolved, (if the Senate concur.^ That it being a grateful duty to acknowledee in a suitabi** 
manner the services of a distin-juislipd citizen of this State, rendered to the National Guard 'nd 
to the United States prior to and during the Rebellion- the Governor be and he i<i hereby author- 
ized and requested to confer upon Krieadier-General J. WATTS DE PUY.^TKR [ de'Peyster] 
the brevet rank of major-Genera^ in the National (Juard of New York, for meritorious services, 
which mark of honor shall be stated in the Commisson conferred. 

State ok New York, in Assemblu, April 9th, 1866. 
The forejroing Resolution was duly passed. J)i^ order of the Asseinblu 

J. B/Cl'shman. Clerk. 
State of New York, in Senate. April 2Uth, 1S66. 
The foregoing Resolution was duly passed. />'/ order of the Senate, 

' Jas. Terwilliger. Clerk. 

MILITARY' AGENT, S. N. Y., (in Europe, )1S61-'3. 

11unoi;ai;v Member. Thieo Class, of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U. S. 

MEMBER OF the Netherlandish Literary Association 

[Maaisehaiipij der Nederlandsrhe Letterkunde] 

at Leyden Holland. 

REi'lHIRXT, 1856, of Three Silitrr Medals horn H. R. M. Oscar. K'ng of Sweden and Norway, 

Ac , for a Military Kiogr.iphv of Leonard Torstenson. Field Marshal, Generalissimo : 

of a Gold Medal \n 185-2. from Washington Hunt. Governor S. N. Y., for 

'■ Efforts to Improve the .Military System of New York." kc. &c. 

and Suggestions for a Paid Fire Department with Steam 

Fire Engines, &c. <&c. : 

of a Gold Medal in 1852. from the Field and Staff Officers of his Command, 9th 

Brig . ;^d Div., N. Y. S. Troops, " In testimony of their Esteem and Appreciation of 

Efforts towards the Establishment of an efficient Militia.'' kc. ■ in 187U, of 

a Magniticient Badge. Medal nnd Clasps voted at ihe Annual 

Meeting of the Third Corps (Army of the Potomac), 

Union, held at Boston. Mass., Thursday, 

Mav 6th. 1870, when 

.1 KiMlution was a.lopted to present a Gold Medal of the value of $500, to Geu. .1. Watts de 

Pevster. ot New York, as a testimonial of the appreciation by the Corps of his eminent 

servicfs in placing upon record the true history ot its achievements, and in defending its 

commanders and their men from written abnse and misrepresentation :" 

and of several other Badges, Medals. &c., for services in connection with the niilitaiv service 

of the State of New York. 

HONORARY MEMBER of the New Jersey and of the Minnesota Historical Societies, 

aiuiofthe Phren<ikosmiajj Society of Pennsylvania College. Gettysburg; 

of the Philosophian Society. Missionary Institute^ Selin's Grove, 

and of the Euterpean Society. Muhlenberg College. AUentown. Pennsylvania. 

and of the Gasman Literary Society, of Netiraska College, Nebraska City. 

HONORARY MEMBER of the N. Y. Burns Club. 

(Burns was a member of the Dumfries Volunteers, nt which Col. Arent Schuyler de Pevster, 

8th or King's Foot B. A., was Colonel, to whom the "National Bard of Scotland" addressed, 

justleloie his death, in 1796. his •■ POEM ON LIFE,") 

and Life Member of the St. Nicholas Society of -New York, 

(of which city Johannes de Pevster, Ursl of the name in Ihe Nere World, was Schej,en. 1655, 

Alderman, 1666, Burgomaster, 1673, Deputy Mayor, 1677. Mayorality offered and refused.) 

MEMBER 

of the New York, the Rhode Island (Newport), and of the Pennsylvania Historical 

Societies, and of the Military Association of the State of New York. 

LIFE MEMBER 

of the Historical Society of Michigan. 

and of the Nu.mismatic and Arch.eological Society of New York. 

CORRESPONDING MEMBER 

of the State Hlstorical Societies „f Maine, of V'ERMoNT.cof Rhode Island. (Providence), 

ol Connecticut, and of Wisconsin ; of the I,.o,<fi Ia.and and of the Buffalo 

Historical Societies ; of the New England fftsToRio-GENEALOGlcAL 

A Society ; of the Quebec Literary & Hist^irical Society ; 

of the Numismatic and Anti^ua'rian Society 

of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania ; 

etc. etc. etc. 



^^Z^JY 



GOD'S DEEP THOUGHTS. 



"Thy thoughts are very deep."— PsA. xcii., 5. 



In a time of national calamity, like the present, it 
is natui^al that our thoughts should be turned to the 
mysteriousness of God's ways. The simplest of all the 
Divine transactions so far transcend our profoundest 
thoughts that we are utterly inadequate to cope with 
them. This is equally true of God's ways in his works, 
his providence, and his grace. But it is principally with 
his providential dealings, that our thoughts touching his 
mysteriousness, are concerned at this time. Science aids 
us to a better understanding of his works in creation, and 
hope promises to expound many of the mysteries of his 
grace in the future, but faith, in its feebleness, is left to 
unfold his providences of the present, as best it can. 
There are a thousand forms of mystery thrown around 
his ordinary dealings which often perplex us, but when 
we come to the extraordinary, we involuntarily exclaim, 
" Thy thoughts are very dee'p^ 

" Wiiy," we ask, "is the young man cut off in his ca- 
reer of promise, and the strong man stricken down just 
before a great work was done ? The parent, when his gui- 
dance was most needed for his little ones — the son or 
the daughter, whose industry was ministering to the neces- 
sities of declining age ? Nor are these the only instances 
where our would-be ways are so much at variance with 



V 



God's ways. With all the boundless appliances of a moral 
providence at command, we can not understand why there 
should be so much of unknown suffering in the world, 
which thousands, if they knew of it, would be only too 
glad to reheve ; why many philanthropic institutions 
should drag on an embarrassed and struggling life, while 
a few words from the pen of a daily journalist can wake 
up the sympathies of the nation's heart, and strengthen 
our best agencies for good. Why should some of the 
mightiest resources of the healing art remain for ages un- 
discovered ? Why should whole nations be suffering from 
famine while there are fertile and trackless wastes untrod- 
den by the foot of man ? Why should the drouth and the 
parched land be weary, and the beasts of the field, and 
all cattle perish of thirst, at the very time when in the 
rocky desert, or on the sea, there is rain enough to 
make the ' mountains and the hills, break forth into sing- 
ing, and all the trees of the field to clap their hands ? ' " 
The only answer which our faith can give is this, " Thy 
thoughts are very deep^ 

The same thing is true in the apparent contradictions 
which we can not reconcile in providential administration, 
as well as in the other secrets which we can not explore. 
For instance, we see the lofty humbled and the lowly ex- 
alted ; and the lofty exalted and the lowly humbled. We 
see the wicked prosperous and the righteous adverse — 
tyrannical thrones established, and beneficent nationalities 
broken up ; and a thousand other seeming contradictions 
meet us, which at times, almost stagger our faith. Yet, 
it would require a seven-fold stretch of faith to believe 
that the events which roll through this universal maze, 
are without a plan, prosecuted by an intelligent God. 
If, for no other reasons, certainly for these : — the univers- 
al movement goes on unchanging and unchanged ; new 



provision is made annually for the teeming millions of 
the globe ; the eartli pours forth its replenishments and 
reproductions, and repairs the wastes of generation af- 
ter generation^ and universal, being moves majestically 
on, from the central depths of universal space to the 
surface of human inspection. To deny that the han^d of 
God grasps, and the finger of God directs, all these ordi- 
nances, would be to lie against the glory of the sunbeam 
and the shower, the fertilizing dew, and the witnessing 
stars, which stand sentry at the opening and closing of 
every day. We can not deny it though we can not un- 
derstand it. The reasons why we caji not, are quite 
obvious, and need but to be mentioned to impress us with 
their satisfactoriness. It would be a wonder indeed if we 
could trace the grounds and methods upon which Jehovah 
acts. Even among men of the highest sagacity, the wisest 
doings of other men are daily misconstrued and misun- 
derstood. Indeed, none of us desire all our ways to be 
understood by our fellow-men, even in the best and wisest 
things that we do. It is not their business to know.all our 
ways, but it may be greatly for their benefit to leave many 
of our wisest movements unaccounted for to them. So, 
God, conciliates our faith and reverence by working under 
a veil, and if you could lift the veil and gaze upon all the 
intricacies of his movements, you would reduce him to 
the level of your own comprehension. The jostling and 
confusion of God's dealings in human afiairs, are on a 
large scale, and require the penetrations of^one all-seeing 
eye, and every unexpected turn which things take, is 
but a proof, that God touches the spring and moves the 
forces of universal action. All these cross-purposes are 
but the interlacings of involved control, by which he is 
working out the full destiny of a man or an empire of 
men. Sometimes it requires, in his judgment, a long 



series of centuries to work out the true interests of a 
nation, and every step which he takes is an impartation 
of rudimental education, which it will, perhaps, require 
many additional centuries to apply. Our limited faculties 
are those of mere children, and we desire to know pet- 
tishly each present riveting and jointing of every Divine 
movement ; but it "is the glory of God to hide a thing." 
Man may stand by the brink and speculate to his heart's 
content, but it is a fearful thing to throw himself into the 
dark waters of Divine mysteriousness, and pursue Jehovah's 
deep thoughts into the sombre caverns of eternal secrecy. 
No human line can be thrown into those dark waters, no 
human plummet can fathom that immense sea. That 
mighty abyss has no soundings, that deep heaves in its 
own infinite solitudes. There are tossings and ebbings of 
tide, and heavings of thought, upon which "no galley 
with oars " ever passed. You may stand on one of earth's 
high head-lands and survey the broad sea-surface of God' s 
ways, but you can never gaze upon more than the sur- 
face, and when you come to think of the profound mo- 
tions of its sweeping under-currents, you will be again 
compelled to exclaim, " Thy thoughts are very deej)!^^ 

This train of remark is naturally superinduced by the 
present condition of our beloved country ; for, despite our- 
selves, the thought will force itself upon us, " Is a kind 
and loving God at the bottom of our national up-heav- 
ings, and does his kindnesis allot to us our present calami- 
ties?" It is my pui^ose ta show, that the hand of 
God is in all our affairs ; that he is guiding the helm for 
the real good of our nation, and, therefore, that even 
his visitation in this civil war, shall ultimately prove 
itself the cause for devout thanksgiving. "In every 
thing give thanks," says the apostle, and as this war is 
among the other things meted out to us by the hand of 



God, we must give thanks even for that. This will be a 
somewhat difficult duty for us to discharge under present 
circumstances. It is easy for a congregation of Americans 
to give thanks in ordinary times. But this is the trial of 
our faith in the guiding hand of God, as it has never been 
tried before. I take it, then, that this war is one of the 
deep thoughts of God, with reference to the history of 
this republic ; and, I argue, that he intends this war to 
work out the greatest possible good for us as a people, 
from his dealings with our country : — 

I. In its Past. God's thoughts are not the flitting 
fancies of a day. They are eternal. God's thoughts are not 
fragmentary ; they are each made up of an eternal past, 
an eternal present, and an eternal future. Therefore, 
each one of God's thoughts is a unit. He is never in a 
hurry in enunciating them. The most patient of men are 
extremely impetuous when they come to unravel the 
slow evolutions of God's great purposes in working out 
the history of an empire. They act much like children 
who, to-day, tear up the corn which they planted yesterday, 
to see why it does not grow ; or crack the egg before it is 
thoroughly warmed, to see why the tardy incubation does 
not bring forth the callow brood. In working out Ameri- 
can destiny man has always been in a hurry, God never. 

In reviewing the deep thoughts of God in the past of 
our country, it will be necessary for the sake of brevity, 
to confine the retrospection to the two most prominent 
epochs of the American past. I allude to its generation, 
that is, to its discovery ; and to its regeneration, that is, to 
the Revolution. - t 

1. As to its generatmi. — I suppose that it was born 
at the time when its twin brother, the eastern hemi- 
sphere was born, far back when nature travailed in the 



8 

mighty pangs of creation. But God had hidden the 
young giant for ages, because he saw " that it was a goodly 
child ;" and as he nourished his own son in Egypt, so he 
nourished this continent, until in the fullness of time he 
could manifest it to the world. The morning planet 
had opened the gates for the, rising sun, so long, over 
the eastern extremities of Asia ; and the evening planet 
had closed them, so long, over the western extremities 
of Europe, that the old divisions of the globe came to 
think themselves the whole world. This delusion was not 
dispelled till, on Friday morning, August 3, 1492, half an 
hour before sunrise, the morning planet left his post to 
convoy three slight caravels, almost as frail as three arks 
of bulrushes, from the small port of Palos to the myste- 
rious regions of the setting sun. Before the sun arose from 
his chamber that day, an imitation of another star-lamp 
which once hung over David's town, 

" Westward the star of empire takes its way ; 
The first four acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama of the day ; 
Time's noblest ofiFspring is the last. 

That heavenly orb led Columbus and the Spanish sages 
to the future palace of the republican king of kings, 
But in the deep thoughts of Jehovah, it also led them 
there, just at the right time, and in the right way. God 
designed that western prince regent to be learned in all 
the learning of great principles, principles governing na- 
tional elevation and human rights. The propping up of 
effete thrones, and rotten dynasties, was not to be his 
work, but the inauguration of humanity in man, and God 
in law. Therefore, in engendering ideas, and. training his 
mind for his future supremacy, Kjrod had been preparing 
certain great elementary text-books for his education. 
What could the prince of republics do without a spelling 



9 

book and a primer ? These, the Divme author prepared 
and stereotyped in the early part of the fifteenth century. 

Sixty-two years before Columbus sailed in search of the 
new world, Lawrence Koster, a man of Harlem, in Hol- 
land, was amusing himself by cutting letters on the smooth 
bark of a tree, when the idea flashed into his mind, that 
he could transfer the impression of them to paper. That 
moment the art of printing was born, and it is believed that 
the first book which was printed was the Bible. This was 
peculiarly fitting, because the Bible is the alphabet of lib- 
erty, the dictionary of equality, the grammar of fraternity, 
the text-book of humanity, the roll-record of divinity, — all 
of which were to be practically illucidated in man's new 
home, as they had not been in the old. Almost simulta- 
neously, with the use of the art of printing, there came 
forth out of the arcana of God's deep thought, a long pro- 
cession of the arts and sciences, each member of which 
was essentially and indispensably necessary to the discovery 
and development of America. 

Astronomy dates back to the time of Noah, but of what 
practical use had it been until about the time of Colum- 
bus? Just before, Bacon had brought the solar system, 
down into the palm of man's hand ; and at that moment, 
Copernicus, in the 19th year of his age, was preparing to 
teach him how to use it. At that time also, there were 
new and wonderful developments in geometry and mathe- 
matics ; and with the developments of mathematics and 
geometry, there came forth the art of navigation by the 
mariner's compass, with its unerring needle to point out 
the path of the discoverer to the new home of man. Then 
followed the science of anatomy and physiology, to teach 
him his new necessities there ; and finally, chemistry to 
clothe his new home with beauty and plenty, and to 
supply those necessities. , t 



10 

The religious element, such as it was, kept pace with 
the scientific. The discoverers of America were Roman 
Catholics, and Roman Catholic governments clahned the 
results of their discoveries. Yet, just at that time, Luther 
had shaken the foundations of the corrupt religion of 
Europe, and* had brought forth the principle of a free, and 
ennobled religion to combat it. There was not room 
enough on the old continent for these great gladiators to 
fight out this contest, and singularly enough, there was an 
emigration of these separate religions to this land at once. 
France was determined to pollute the hills and valleys of 
New England with the feet of the papal beast, and at one 
time or another, put forth the most desperate efforts to 
possess it. The reformers were as determined that Rome 
should not possess it. Bancroft tells us, that outside of 
Mexico, the very first colony in North America, was a Prot- 
estant colony, planted by Caspar De Coligni, as a refuge 
for Protestants, and that Jesuit priests stained the soil of 
the new world with the blood of its colonists, purely as 
Protestants. Had all North America been settled before 
the time of Cromwell, the feebleness of the early reform- 
ed religion could never have withstood the old faith. But 
it was reserved for a hardy and inflexible people, — who 
by the most complex combinations of jiolitical, social, and 
religious life, had been tested and established in the capa- 
city for self-government and brotherhood, — to find their 
way to these shores, and give birth to a new nation here. 
God, in his far-reaching thoughts, put Christianity upon 
a new trial in America, in company with persecuted lib- 
erty ; for in the generation of North America, we have 
the first instance in the history of the race, of the 
founding of a Christian republic on a grand scale. Surely, 
^God's " thoughts are very deepT 

2. The same truth forcibly displays itself in the Revolu- 



11 

tion qfl7^Q, We call this the regeneration of our land, 
only, because it had at that time reached its rightful ma- 
jority and independence. No other epoch had occurred 
since its discovery, which approached this in magnitude. 
Its importance was so immense, that it is impossible to 
overlook the hand of God in the whole of that great move- 
ment. The long course of training for American Indepen- 
dence, was a most remarkable event in the history of that 
fact. The vigilant guardianship of inalienable rights which 
marked the colonists everywhere ; their maintenance of 
justice, their endurance of wrong ; and above all, their un- 
bending religious integrity, pervaded the body as a whole, 
like leaven leavening the mass. And in the method of se- 
curing our Independence, the hand of God was also pre- 
eminently apparent. I dare not venture upon a discussion 
of this point, as it would legitimately fill a volume. But, I 
may say, in order to keep the thread of discourse good, that 
its parallel is not found upon the page of history. We 
see the most powerful monarchy of Europe, assailing one^ 
of the weakest people on the face of the earth. With 
one of the best disciplined armies, and with the most pow- 
erful navy that ever floated ; that princedom assails a few 
colonies, who were at first without allies, and without help 
in the world. That colossal power marched on from vic- 
tory to victory, uninterruptedly, with but few exceptions, 
for seven long years. Led on by one, who in British es- 
timation was at mo&t a colonel, the colonial forces met 
defeat after defeat ; defeat by sea — defeat by land — 
defeat before defenses — and defeat in the open plains ; so 
that their standards were again and again trampled in 
blood, and all apparently in vain. Hardly any people 
ever met with such systematic, continued, perpetual dis- 
aster. The very nature of war is casual : victory to-day, 
and defeat to-morrow ; perpetual change of the tide for 



12 

weal or woe, which no man can turn ; perpetual influx of 
circumstances for which no man can account ; perpetual 
baffling of wisdom ; perpetual extinction of valor ; total 
casuality. But, in this case, there was hardly any change 
at all. It seemed to be all disaster, weakness on every 
side, failure of resources, errors of inexperience, confu- 
sion of counsels ; and, yet, everywhere the hand of God 
seemed lifted up to shield the infant people against the 
thundering blows of their crowned enemy, and convert 
every American defeat into a triumph. How can we ac- 
count for all this ? In no way, except by attributing it 
to the guiding hand of heaven. The key to the whole is 
this, " Thy thoughts are very deepT 

You are ready to say, " Yes, it is clear enough that the 
hand of God has shaped the American past, but where, 
you ask, do you see his hand in the American present T 
Well, let us contemplate 

II. The Present ; as exhibiting God's arm lifted up for 
the blessing of America. It requires the steady eye of 
faith to see it, perhaps, but it is there. To a nervous 
eye, there is little of God's deep thoughts of love appar- 
ent in the rivers of blood which are now flowing through 
the land. We see husbands sent to an untimely grave, 
mothers and children slain by exploding shells: We 
see broken bones, quivering flesh, and mangled corpses 
by thousands, , Woe and lamentation fill the land, and 
anguish and desolation fill our homes. The most fertile 
and populous provinces are converted into deserts. Fire 
consumes i:he fields smiling with waving grain, cities are 
thrown into heaps, and States seem to be in the very 
agonies of dissolution. In the midst of all this dire com- 
motion, does God think deep thoughts of love toward us? 
Most certainly he does. We are not yet a God-forgotten, 
and a God-forsaken people. I see this in several things. 
I mention but one. 



13 

It is found in the design of this war. What is its 
design? Is it on the part of the United States a war 
of conquest and ambition? Of mere wanton bloodshed, 
and tyranny? Of pride and subjugation of the weak? 
Let us ask ourselves these questions sincerely and hon- 
estly, and with anything like a competent knowledge of 
the facts in the case, we must answer in the negative. 

Whose soil is our army overrunning? Our own. 
Whose ports is our navy blockading? Our own. Whose 
rivers are we opening? Our own. Whose people is 
the government bringing to obedience ? Our own. 
Whose laws are they called upon to obey ? Those that 
they made themselves, and in times past required us to 
obey, and those which they could have repealed at 
leisure if they had chosen to have done so ! Compare 
this war in these respects with any other war of history, 
and you shall find nothing that answers to it, not even in 
the civil wars of G-reat Britain. Is there anything in it 
that bears the slightest comparison to the acknowledged 
wars of ambition and domination of history? Compare 
it on the part of the United States with the infernal com- 
pound of perfidy, avarice, cruelty, fiend-like revenge, and 
rapine, which have distinguished such warfare in all ages. 
What similitude does it bear to the disorders and moral 
anarchy produced by Alexander, who massacred the un- 
offending inhabitants of nations, and comi|iitted indescrib- 
able ravages, iw order to gratify the madness of his am- 
bition, and secure the honors of a hero ? Or to the wars 
o^ Xerxes, who, fired with the lust of power, led forward an 
army of three millions of infuriated wretches to be 
slaughtered by the indignant Greeks. To those of Alaric, 
who ravaged the southern countries of Europe, overturn- 
ing the most spendid monuments of art, pillaging the 
metropolis of the Roman Empire, and deluging its streets 



14 

in blood. Compare it with those of Tamerlane, who over- 
ran Persia, India, and other regions of Asia, and in cruel 
sport pounded three or four thousand people at a time 
in large mortars, and then built their bodies with bricks 
and mortar into walls. Is this war at all like that of the 
six million of Crusaders, who under the authority of the 
Romish Church, marched in wild confusion through east- 
ern Europe, devouring all before them, like an army of 
locusts, breathing destruction to Jews and infidels, with 
infernal fury. Is there anything in it like the wars of 
Jonghiz Kan, who ravaged the kingdoms of eastern 
Asia, to an extent of fifteen millions of square miles, be- 
heading one hundred thousand prisoners at once, filling 
the whole world with terror, and utterly exterminating 
fourteen milhons of human behigs. Last of all, is there 
anything in this war answering to the butcheries of 
Napoleon Buonaparte ? The work of plunder and devas- 
tation appeared to be his delight and glory. He rode in 
triumph through the nations over heaps of slain, he scat- 
tered firebrands, and arrows, and commotion, wherever 
he went'; he overturned governments which were bad, to 
give the people worse, and proved his whole life to be 
one of boundless ambition. How different is this war on 
the part of the United States ; undertaken most reluc- 
tantly, prosecuted most tenderly, and its end desired most 
ardently, by the nation which wages it. Not a blow was 
struck, till the Constitution of a free people was torn up 
and thrown in their faces, till seventy loyal, enlightened, 
citizen-soldiers, at the point of starvation, were opened up- 
on in a cowardly manner by shot and shell, although they 
had done no man any harm. Then it has been carried 
on so graciously, that in our popular elections, twenty 
millions of free men rose uj) and indignantly rebuked the 
Government for its leniency. Nay, that government itself. 



15 

proffers the full restoration to the rebels of all their con- 
stitutional rights, if they will inaugurate the unborn new 
year with peace and brotherly love, and stands ready to 
defend them with all its fearful power, against all foreign 
enemies whatsoever. Is this a war of fanaticism, of 
aggression, of ambition ? No sirs, it can not be. It is a 
war for constitutional oaths against unconstitutional perjury 
— of law against anarchy — of liberty against tyranny — and 
of gentleness against crime. It is a war, on the part of 
the United States for ideas, not passion. Ideas, which 
are in harmony with the deep thoughts of God in creat- 
ing this continent, for this one family of the American 
people — ideas, which Jefferson defended with his masterly 
democratic pen, against all the sophists of kingcraft, and 
which Washington defended with his keen but gentle 
sword| against all the dogmatisms of Jacobin dismember- 
ment. True, severity is beginning to mingle itself with 
the war, at last, but even now, it is a war of patience 
which resents injury — a war of calmness which avenges 
affronts — a war of forbearance which demands a sub- 
mission, not to curse but to bless. If I am not more 
mistaken than I have been in my life, there never was 
a more truthful idea than this, that on the part of the 
United States, the true Washingtonian spirit and purpose 
runs through the whole war, while on the part of the 
rebellion, there is as decided a caste of the accursed 
Buonaparte purpose and spirit, as seen in both uncle 
and nephew. No two men ever more perfectly repre- 
sented two parties at variance. Washington and Napo- 
leon are representative men in this view, and are a 
perfect type of the two parties engaged in this war. 
Look at these two men, and you will see the likeness 
of the two combatants at once. You can apply the 
likeness as I draw it. 



16 

Washington and Napoleon, were both men of mind, but 
of a vastly different order. They were both masters in 
mathematics and arms, but their talents were devoted to 
ends as widely different as the poles. Washington, gener- 
ously aimed at the accomplishment of his high object in 
a right and laudable way. Napoleon, reached his, in any 
way that he could most conveniently, but generally by 
duplicity and bold daring. Washington, devoted his first 
manly energies to the love of his mother, and the acquisi- 
tion of an ample income, not to say an opulent fortune, 
by industry and enterprise. Napoleon, was pennyless, 
and early consecrated his brilliant abilities to romantic 
adventure, determined that no machination or art of 
finesse should go untried, till wealth and power lay at his 
feet. Gentleness, purity, justice and love, were the distin- 
guished attributes of Washington's mind; brilliancy, pas- 
sion, strength and ambition, made up Napoleon's. From 
the time that the boy Washington, stood at the foot of 
his father's cherrytree, to the hour of his death, his stern 
lips and his pure life never uttered a lie. And, because 
he was the embodiment of honor, bravery and loyalty, a 
grateful nation made him their father and their model 
ruler. Napoleon, descended to every species of chicanery, 
deception, and intrigue, to raise himself to a throne ce- 
mented in blood, making his whole life a tissue of practi- 
cal falsehood and crime. Washington, never exhibited 
the slightest sign of cowardice in his life. Napoleon, 
turned pale as death, and shook from head to heel with 
terror, when he drove the French representatives out of 
the capitol, and his own brother Lucien cast the reproach 
of it in his teeth, in the presence of all the spectators. In 
the thick of the battle Washington's breast always melt- 
ed with tenderness, lest one poor yeoman of his patriot 
command, should unnecessarily spill his blood in achiev- 



17 

ing a victory for his country. Napoleon's vanity would 
sacrifice a brigade at any time, without compunction, and 
his own aggrandizement must be secured at all times, 
though it cost the life of every man in his legions. La- 
fayette, with the deference of a noble nature, stood 
amazed before the gentleness of Washington, while con- 
tending for the liberties of America, but was shocked at 
the butcheries of Napoleon, and wielded his eloquent 
but unheeded pen, in warning France to maintain her 
liberties while she could, against the unprincipled sword 
of the arch usurper. The frozen plains of Russia, and 
the malarious morasses of Italy, rose in spectoral vision 
before the young marquess, and in his old age they wrung 
his heart with bitterness. Washington's eyes filled with 
tears, and his hand trembled with tenderness, when he 
signed the death-warrant of the beautiful and finished 
young spy, Major Andre, convicted of dealings with Ar- 
nold, the father of American traitors. Napoleon, in cold- 
blood, consigned the Duke de Enghein to death, not for 
plotting against liberty, but for being a faithful man, 
and a romantic hero. Washington, never drew a copper 
from the public treasury but he accounted for it in the 
most scrupulous manner, and so far from his own emolu- 
ment being a primary object with him, he never claimed a 
dollar for his services during the seven year's war for In- 
dependence, except for his bare personal expenses, which 
he made so light as to excite the wonder of rigid econo- 
mists. Napoleon, robbed the French treasury of immense 
sums for his own use, and then enriched every member of 
the Buonaparte family with the spoils of his empire, be- 
sides allotting to each of them a stolen crown and kingdom. 
For many years, the generous heart of Washington pon- 
dered the unpretending project of leaguing the thirteen 
States of America into one Confederation, for the mutual 

2 



18 

liberty, equality, and elevation of all. He saw that their 
union would secure the weakest of them from foreign ag- 
gression, and would throw the restraints of justice and law 
over the strongest of them. And, like as a father would 
bless the pure nuptials of his children, so he blessed the 
bond that for ever married these States, saying,, by his 
heartfelt gratitude, " Whom God hath joined together let 
no man piit asunder," Napoleon's only aim was to con- 
solidate all the countries of Europe into one massive em- 
pire, not for any benign purpose which he cherished 
toward Europe itself, but that he might sit upon a throne 
which he had mounted from a wave of blood, and receive 
the homage of the enslaved peoples who crouched at his 
feet. There was not a man living on this continent whom 
Washington did not desire to bless, nor one on the other 
whom Napoleon did not desire to rule. As a great archi- 
tect, Washington reared pillar after pillar in the temple 
of freedom, and lived to see the top-stone brought on 
amid the shoutings of a united and happy people, and 
then, without a spot on his garments, he voluntarily with- 
drew from public power and glory, to dignify the altars of 
domestic serenity and bliss. He might have made him- 
self the founder of a new dynasty, but he nobly spurned 
all approaches in that direction, for he desired to dwell as 
a brother among his own people. It is a singular thing 
that while all kings reverenced him, he lived and died 
without once seeing a crown, or setting his foot in an 
earthly palace — from the field he withdrew to an honest 
farmer's home, 

" And there retiring, breathed in pnre renown, 
And felt a grandeur that disdained a crown." 

No man of common sense would exchange the chaplet 
of thorns which Washington found at Valley Forge, for 
the diadem of gems which the Corsican adventurer seized 
at Paris. 



19 

Napoleon, pushed on usurpation after usurpation, and 
clutched prerogative after prerogative, till the reaction of 
the sword wrenched from him, what by the sword, he had 
wrenched from others ; and, as if under the decrees of 
Godj he was banished to a dreary rock in mid-ocean, to 
sink into his primitive insignificance. Two things are 
terrifically apparent there, namely : first, the inexorable 
retribution of Divine justice, in meeting out the' deserts of 
unparalleled crime, ambition, and corruption ; and, second, 
the chronic treachery, cowardly malice, and cankerous 
hospitality of the British Government. Early in life, a 
pure and courtly woman won the heart of Washington, 
and he took her hand in honorable marriage. He loved 
her with unswerving fidelity through life, and in death she 
was a ministering angel unto him. Napoleon, basely cast 
his lawful wife, Josephine, aside. She was a pattern of 
queenly majesty, and the real author of all his fame and 
splendor. Yet, because she stood in the way of his foul 
ambition, she must be sacrificed for one everyway her in- 
ferior. She loved him with an undying constancy, and at 
last, went down into her grave, worn out under the ach- 
ings of a broken heart for him. In this case, he trampled 
under foot his most solemn matrimonial vows, and spurned 
the laws of God and public decency, in the most unprin- 
cipled manner. Then, as if it were not enough to com- 
mit moral and conjugal perjury himself, he compelled his 
brother Jerome to abandon his splendid young American 
wife. Miss Patterson, of Baltimore, whom he loved most 
tenderly, because royal blood had never corrupted her 
veins. The upstart tyrant would not even allow the feet 
of the virtuous young American to touch the soil of im- 
perial France, lest their republican tread should pollute 
it, and he forced Jerome to abandon her, and marry a 
petty princess, against his own affections and convictions. 



20 

Washington lived under the salutary influences of the re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ. It burnt in a steady flame of piety 
upon his heart, and shone forth in rational obedience in 
his life. To say that Napoleon was of no religion, would 
be untrue. He had a religion the greater part of the 
time, but it waxed and waned with the moon. If his in- 
terests dictated, he became a worshiper of the crescent 
with the new moon, or if it were more expedient, in the 
light of the crescent he bowed before the cross. In other 
words, one day he was a Mahomedan, and the next a 
Christian ; one day he was a Protestant, and the next a 
Roman Catholic ; one day he would flatter and fawn upon 
the Pope at his court, and the next he would steal his 
goods and profane his palace. In death, Washington's 
sun went down without a cloud. Its mild beams, in set- 
ting, irradiated both hemispheres with the hope of free- 
dom, and the tranquillity of a pure religion : so, that, in 
most respects, the best of men may now pray, "Let me 
die the death of Washington, and let my last end be like 
his." Contrast this with the death-bed of Napoleon. It 
was as gloomy and barren of good as his sea-girt prison. 
•He felt himself abandoned both of God and man. When 
he looked at the past, his conscience goaded him with a 
sting ; when he contemplated the present, he fretted like 
a peevish child at every trifling thing, or raved like a bed- 
lamite in unmanly passion which could not brook insult 
and disappointment ; and as to the future, Las Cases, who 
was with him, and kept a journal of all that he said, tells 
us, that in bitter lamentation he exclaimed, " What, then, 
would be my happiness, if the bright prospect of futurity 
presented itself to crown the last moments of my exist- 
ence !" But, alas ! the sun of the remorseless tyrant went 
down under the cloud of a dotard, and now, no honest 
man sheds a tear at the gate of his mausoleum, unless he 



21 

weeps over fallen vanity. We couple his name with the 
names of Cesar and Alexander, but what true friend of 
liberty or of man, ever quotes any one of the three for 
autjiority or emulation? But every generous and brave 
man, from prince to peasant, has a tear of love to drop 
at the feet of the republican chief, at Mount Yernon- 
While Europe has been cursed with a score of Napoleons, 
and is groaning under the infliction yet, the world has 
seen but one Washington. You see the dream, do you 
see the interpretation thereof ? I do not know that you 
see the resemblance in its true light, my friends ; but as 
I see things, the spirit and bearing of the loyal States, 
and the spirit and bearing of the rebel States in this con- 
test, is photographed exactly in the spirit and bearing of 
these two men. And, I believe, that predestined history 
will show, in due time, that at this moment, these two 
men are living their lives over again, while God holds up 
to us the two lessons which he taught to the world in their 
records. Then, let the nephew, and the rebels whose 
cause he cherishes, remember, that, if in constitutionless 
France, the spirit of the elder Napoleon be not yet dead ; 
there is at least one sacred spot in the world which is 
shielded by .a Constitution, and that it still bears the sig- 
nature of the " President and Deputy from Yirginia." He 
can well afford to remember this. It existed in the daj'^s 
of his uncle ; it protected him when he was an exile sub- 
sisting on benevolence, in Oak street, in this city. And 
when every Buonaparte, and rebel ally of the Buona- 
partes on the face of the earth, are swept away, as with 
the blast of a thunderbolt, that Constitution will smile 
upon the wreck, and mock their relics, and will proudly 
say, in the dying words of its immortal defender, ''I sttU 
liveJ^ Washington first kindled its free spark of immor- 
tality ; Webster fed the lambent flame ; and this civil 



22 

contest is replenishing it with an immortal oil, so that, 
despite the whole race of American traitors and Corsican 
perjurers, its vestal flame shall burn on, inextinguishable, 
for ever. 

If this representation be within a league of correct 
views, then, I claim, that with such sublime ideas, such 
elevated purposes, and such beneficent ends in view, 
the prosecution of this war is but the evolution of Grod's 
deep thoughts of love toward this glorious country. It 
is this great fact, that the grand democratic idea lies, in- 
destructibly and incurably, at the bottom of this war, on 
the part of the United States, that disturbs the perfidious 
intermeddler who sits, to-day, on the French throne. His 
unconquerable hatred to democratic thought, is the animus 
of his proposition to Lord John Russell for intervention 
in American affairs. This was the disturbing animus 
which led his Lordship himself to accord the rights of 
belligerents to the rebels in the first place, which has led 
him to express his belief that this Union must be dissolved, 
and, in consequence of which, he is only deterred from 
interference in our affairs now, by a wholesome fear of a 
good round fleet of iron-clads. As to Louis Napoleon, I 
have never doubted but that his interference in Mexican 
affairs contemplates final interference here ; most proba- 
bly with the purpose of putting young Patterson, of Balti- 
more, upon a Southern throne when the right time shall 
come, knowing well, that a native American king, with 
•Buonaparte blood in his veins, would be a most accept- 
able thing to the leading rebels, while it would enhance the 
glory of the usurper's empire, and make Louis Napoleon, 
in fact, the Dictator in American affairs. The success of this 
government, in its desperate struggle, would demonstrate 
forever, that a Christian republic can maintain the great 
right of man to rule himself, without an intervening king. 



23 

and, therefore, might make trouble for both France and 
Great Britain at home, under the lead of Bright and Cob- 
den : Victor Hugo and Ledru Rollin. Hence, this hate 
on the part of the two governments toward the cause of 
the United States. I say the governments, and not the 
people, for the great mass of the people of both those na- 
tions, are as much with American democracy, in sympathy 
and good will, as they were in the days of Lord Chatham 
and Lafayette. The very fact, then, that these nation- 
alities are held in abeyance by fear of the success of the 
great underlying principle of this nation, proves to me 
that this war is one of God's deep thoughts towards re- 
publican America. Like all other valuable and firmly knit 
frames, the form of this young giant is passing through 
a severe ordeal ; it is the fluttering of the public pulse in 
one of those fevers which give vigor and endurance to the 
body politic. But our country is proving that the heart 
is sound, and it argues the security of the frame ; and un- 
less the signs of the times are falsely read, before this 
young Hercules shall have attained his hundredth birth- 
day, both Great Britain and France may be persuaded, 
more to their conviction than their comfort, that his heart 
is very valiant, and his arm very strong. 

I wish that I had time to refer at length to what, I be- 
lieve, must be the future of this country. For I sincerely 
believe that the deep thoughts of God have a most signi- 
ficant purpose with reference, 

III. To ITS Future. I hate ever}'- thing like bombast 
in the treatment of the future greatness of this land, with 
feelings approaching to loathing, for it too often savors of 
vain-glorying and pride, instead of sober conviction and 
sensible gratitude. Yet, if I should state to you the 
deliberate satisfaction which I feel with reference to the 



: 24 

future of America, as your children and mine will and 
must see it, I fear that -you would set me down as either a 
vague enthusiast, or as one who talks at random. I may 
be one or both of these, and, yet, cause and effect are so 
obviously working out God's deep thoughts with reference 
to the future of America, that the result may be even 
more astounding than the anticipation. For the sake of 
convenience, I may throw those anticipations into three 
distincts classifications. I observe then, that 

1 . This war is preparing America as the permanent home 
for universal man. — Did you never observe at the conflu- 
ence of two or three large streams or rivers, what a com- 
motion and turmoil there is where the different waters first 
meet, as they come rushing down from their several eleva- 
tions? But, after commingling for a while, they become 
homogeneous, and bear on their course to the great sea 
with majestic momentum and ease. This is a fair type of 
American society. America was made for man, and not, 
man for America. And it was made for man as man — 
universal man — irrespective of origin or race. From the 
time of its discover}^, men of all tongues and nationalities 
have flocked to it, and under God have made it what it is. 
One would think, at first sight, that this heterogeneousness 
were an element of weakness ; that this great contrariety 
of tastes, and educations, and civilizations, could not pos- 
sibly cohere, and that we should necessarilyrdisintegrate. 
And there is some reason for this opinion. No doubt, a 
large portion of our present troubles are, in a sense, attri- 
butable to this organic formation of our society. We are 
descendants of the English, the Scotch, the Welch, the 
Irish, the Dutch, the French, and in fact of all nations. 
Our origin brings with it different languages, different 
sentiments, different religions, and different habits. Mor- 



25 

ally, we share every complexion, as well as socially ; but, 
politically, we are more nearly one than in any other 
respect, because from under the different systems of 
oppressive government, the democratic idea and support 
has gradually drawn itself to this centre, just as a load- 
stone attracts to itself the steel. But we have been engag- 
ed in commerce, and mechanics, and agriculture, so en- 
grossingly, that, really, as a nation, we have not yet fused 
down into a perfect homogeneousness of political science 
and system. This war is a crucible into which we are 
thrown for the purpose of taking this type. This land has 
never before gone through a great internal tribulation as 
other lands have, and it is now absolutely indispensable that 
we should smelt and fuse into one crystallization under the 
heat of a furnace heated seven tinies hotter than it is wont 
to be. From the first, there was a radical difference 
anrong our fathers, between the Jeflfersonian theory and the 
Adamsonian, and those two streams have never coalesced 
to this day ; but they have each gon,e on growing and ab- 
sorbing other streams, till now, the moral element has 
allied itself with these two forms of political philosophy in- 
separably, and the old battle is to be refought between the 
political Puritan, and the political Cavalier. So far the 
Jeffersonian political element is largely in the ascendant, 
and promises to prevail. If it does, there must be 
among us a grand conglomeration of human ideas, and hu- 
man principles, which will stamp this vast intermixture of 
human blood as essentially that of a new race. And as new 
races evince a vigor and a tenacity which would exhaust 
and destroy old "races ; I can see a future for this nation 
which will endow it with immortality as a Christian re- 
public, when its enemies and their very names are forgot- 
ten. The vitality to absorb, in this nation, is the most 
remarkable thing about it. This American republic has 



26 

an enormous maw, which digests everything you put into 
it. It is perfectly monstrous. It has been remarked, that 
it is like one of the Creator's gigantic animals in this re- 
spect. The elephant, that massive beast of the forest, 
throws up his trunk and devours the palm-tuft above him, 
gathers up the matted vine beneath him, and collects the 
corn-shocks around him. He devours them all. Nothing 
comes amiss. But you never see the palm-tuft growing 
out of his head, the vine-tangle manacling his feet, nor 
the corn-sheaf growing out of his back. God has en- 
dowed him with tremendous digestive organs, and all that 
he eats becomes elephant. So with the republic ; you 
may pour ship-load of men after ship-lbad, from any and 
all parts of the earth into its ports, and be who they may, 
or come from where they will, they are all converted into 
true American blood, by some mysterious power or. other, 
without a drop of royal blood to tinge it. I argue, then, 
that this republic is to be the future home of universal 
man, men of all nations, and they are to give perpetuity 
to this republic by forming a new race of men . 

2. It is to he the home of universal free man. — Is this 
its glory or its shame ; is it to be its disgrace or its 
honor ? Why do I ask such a question ? Did freedom ever 
disgrace any people ? What have nations been contend- 
ing for ever since nationalities begun ? What has been the 
glory of America over all other nations up to this day ? 
Certainly its freedom, and its love of freedom. - Just 
where we have been free, we have been strong ; and just 
where we have not been free, we have been weak. This 
nation is a perfect wonder in this matter to-day. In less 
than a century, we have wrought out, and put into prac- 
tical operation, the freest Constitution in the world ; or I 
would rather say, the only free popular Constitution that 



27 

the world ever had. It could be improved. "We have im- 
proved it once ; and when practical necessity shall ap- 
pear to call for another step towards perfection by its 
amendment, the national love for progress will take that 
step, with a firm unanimity that will astonish its enemies. 
But look at the Constitution as it now stands in its soli- 
tary grandeur. It covers no such dreadful sins enacted 
against the citizen, as you find perpetrated against him 
under the highest civilization of Europe. Whatever rem- 
nants of elements antagonistic to universal freedom, are 
left among us, are not American. America never origi- 
nated any system of bondage. The system which has 
cost us so much difficulty, was bequeathed to us by the 
English, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch. It is 
not an American-born system. The fact is, the colonies 
were almost unanimously arrayed against it, from Massa- 
chusetts to Georgia. Georgia declared that it was " against 
the Gospel and the English law," and was a "horrid crime ;" 
Virginia earnestly petitioned the Crown of Britain to al- 
low her total exemption fcom it, under the allegation that 
it would "endanger her very existence ;" and South Caro- 
lina resisted the whole thing as an outrage. But the sys- 
tem, including the slave trade, of course, wa-s necessary 
in the colonies to the building up of British commerce, 
and the emolument of British aristocracy. Therefore, the 
mother country turned a deaf ear to the wishes of the 
colonies, and forced slavery upon them against their con- 
sciences, against their rights, and against their remon- 
strances. More than that, she actually made a treaty 
with Spain, by which she was to enjoy the ^monopoly of 
the slave trade, and pledged herself to import 144,000 
slaves into the West Indies within thirty years ; and Queen 
Anne and Philip, actually took half the stock between^ 
them. Therefore, when the republic came into b^ing, 



28 

slavery was found in every colony. As well as they could 
the fathers quietly began to remove it at once. The world 
had been balancing the question of freedom and bondage 
for thousands of years ; Europe had tried her hand at it ; 
Asia had investigated it, and even Africa had attempted to 
solve it. But it was left for America, to say to the world 
for the first time on the 4th of July, 1776, "Eureka, Eu- 
reka, We have found it, we have found it" ; " All men are 
born free and equal," and when she said this, she meant it. 
The world was astounded ; and when American demo- 
cratic patriotism came forth to seal that truth with its 
blood, the world was thunderstruck. No nation had ever 
stamped the seal of its blood upon that doctrine before. 
And since that day, America has done more for liberty, 
and against bondage, than all other nations had ever 
done before. Britain takes great credit to herself for 
her "West Indian emancipation. I would not rob her of 
whatever credit she is entitled to in that matter. But it 
cost her nearly half a century of bitter agitation before 
she adopted that policy at all. Even then, she only adopt- 
ed it as a policy, and paid herself well for it in the 
bargain. She did not bring down the question to man's 
rights as the root of his humanity. The history of British 
legislation is an open book, and I never yet found the 
page where she did anything, as a government, for con- 
science sake. Upon this point, Peter Bayne, one of her 
ablest sons, says, " With a look of magnanimity, justice, 
and love, Britain unchained her slaves ; with a superb 
generosity, she paid down twenty millions, and washed 
from her hands the stain of blood. The nations of the 
earth looked on in admiration ; from the four corners of 
the world cam^ shouts of applause. It seemed indubi- 
table that it had been an act of justice and humanity to the 
negro. But the plaudits were premature. If appear- 



29 

ances could be trusted, it was not the negro but herself 
Britain had spared." She did not move a step in her 
West Indian policy, till she was well persuaded that 
it was for her interest to do so, and when she. did 
adopt it, she only followed in the footsteps which at 
least half-a-dozen of the independent American States 
had already marked out for her. She imitated their 
example in everything save their disinterestedness ; for 
they freed their slaves without remuneration, while she 
claimed and paid to herself their full moneyed value. And 
now, I say, it is nauseating to hear and see so many 
of her statesmen, her philanthropists, and her religionists, 
from the Earl of Shaftsbury, and Charles H. Spurgeon, 
down to the most obscure of their classes,^first declaim 
in her behalf, and then write down the American cause, 
as those of them do, who tell tell us, that they have no 
sympathy with this struggling government, because there 
are yet bondmen found among us. When you remember 
that under the same government, there were found 
those, who could, without protest, see wretched China- 
men compelled to take down opium at the point of 
the bayonet, after the protestation of their Emperor, that 
it was poisoning his subjects by the million : and that 
they could, without a religious twinge of conscience, 
justify the shooting out of Sepoys from the mouths of 
mortars because they refused to bite off the end of a 
greasy cartridge ; — I say it is unbearable, to hear them 
prate of what we ought to do in the matter of negro 
slavery in a time like this. And it is the more so, when 
you remember that the very shirts on their backs when 
they speak, and the very rags of the paper which their 
pens defile on this subject, are the product of slave labor. 
If this is the law by which they dole out their sympathy 
to a noble nation of Christian freedmen, who are strug- 



30 

gling for the rights of man, we certainly can do without 
it, and for one I disdain to ask the poor donation. Let 
them keep it. It is but just, however, to state the most 
gratifying fact, that there are many noble exceptions, 
where in high places, pen, pulpit, press, and prayers, are 
all consecrated, even in England, to the American cause. 
Her immortal Queen, and thousands of her best subjects 
bid us God speed. "We gratefully thank them. Mean- 
while, with all the wisdom and patriotism, and Christian 
democracy, which we possess, this nation will move on 
working out the great problem of the Declaration of In- 
dependence. In one way or another, it may require 
half a century, or even a century more to complete it, 
to the greatest good of all concerned ; but in the very 
nature of things, and inevitably, this country, must, 
and will work out the deep thought of God, in making it 
the home of universally free man. I just mention, 

3. It will he the home of prosperous free man. — And I 
need not enlarge here. "While climates, and soils, and min- 
erals, and commerce, and education, continue to be what 
they are now, the material prosperity of this country must 
predominate over that of all other countries who do not 
possess the same elements of prosperity, or possess them 
in a less degree. The fact that we can carry on such a 
war as no other modern nation has carried on, without 
perceptibly lessening the prosperity of the country as a 
whole, and at the same time feed the great nations of 
Europe from our granaries, promises unprecedented pros- 
perity when this war shall close. It is a remarkable fact, 
that during the last year, the Northern States have ex- 
ported sixty-two millions more of its products than they did 
in 1860, and speaks wonders for their vitality. With this 
state of things, and loyalty reduced to a principle, and con- 



31 

solidated at that, upon the American basis of principles, 
it is not within the grasp of man's mind to comprehend 
what this nation is to be in point of future prosperity. 
But one thing is sure, that God's deep thoughts have 
these things in store for us, and that the future, as well 
as the past will call for our devout thanksgiving and 
praise. "Thy Thoughts are very deep." 



-V' 



